1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for logistics and more particularly to a method and system for supply chain or network control of the flow and balance of goods and related information from point of origin to point of consumption.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With reference to The New Encyclopedia Britannica Volume 28, logistics means the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements.
Further, a logistics system involves logistics management, control, planning, and customer service, which can be placed within a single logistics department or shared among several departments in a company.
Users of logistics systems are for example manufacturing industries, and retail chain stores, but also service industries such as banks and public authorities etc.
Documentation flow, inventory management, order processing and packaging, production scheduling, purchasing, and distribution management etc, are all important activities needed in a modern logistics system.
A lot is documentation is involved in logistics and is often interchanged electronically. Delivery agreements, orders, and packing lists are some documents in the documentation flow.
Companies move products and components between its plants during the production process, and inventory replenishment systems strive to obtain small resupply deliveries to be made just as they are needed, because there are costs associated with holding inventories including storage costs, obsolescence etc.
In prior art systems order processing starts with an order from a customer. It may be obtained by a phone call, an ordinary mail, or even an e-mail from a buyer to a seller. As the buyer""s inventories become low, an electronic purchase order is generated. It is sent to the seller, whose computers will determine that the goods are available, and the seller will inform the buyer that the order will be filled and shipped by a certain time. After some verification steps instructions are sent to a warehouse to fill the order. At the warehouse the specific order is assembled and packed for shipment. Transportation documents are prepared, an invoice is sent to the buyer and the goods is delivered.
A problem associated with prior art logistics systems is to obtain an efficient logistics control and production scheduling and an equalised flow from a source to a destination in a supply chain in order to balance demand for products with plant capacity and availability of inputs. Inbound materials and components must be scheduled to fit into the production process. The production process itself is scheduled to fulfill existing and planned orders. Manufactured products must be scheduled for shipment to wholesalers, retailers, and customers. For example, if the firm is running a special advertising campaign to promote its product, the additional products must be available for sale. Depending on these variations in product demand it is difficult to obtain an efficient production scheduling to fulfill the order requirements of the end customers.
In prior art logistics system different activities are linked by communication in order to coordinate and managing logistics. A customer buys merchandise in a store having a scanner at the checkout counter linked directly to the chain""s home office so that it has instantaneous information as to what is being sold. Thus, the store can be restocked when necessary rather than having a large inventory at the store. In the next step the home office orders merchandise from a producer based on information collected from its stores. However, the supplier or producer does not know about the real demands from the stores, just a total demand from each store associated with that home office. Several home offices of different chain stores may order from the same producer.
For example, two stores associated with a first home office may have uniform demands from customers over the time for a particular product but on different levels. A second home office has two other associated stores also having uniform demands from its customers over the time for that particular product but on other levels. Each shop needs a particular quantity of products within a time interval. The quantity and/or the time interval can be different for each shop. Information about the demands from each shop is received at its home office. A predetermined order quantity issued when the home offices order products from the producer within a time interval. As for the shops the time interval as well as the order quantity may differ between the different home offices. Thus, even if the demands from the customers are almost uniform over the time the producer receives orders varying sometimes vary much. It is therefore very difficult to obtain an efficient logistics control and production scheduling and an equalised flow from a source to a destination in a supply chain.
In order to achieve efficient logistics demand forecasting has been used. Information concerning delivery to customers and receipt of raw materials or components are relevant in order to make good decisions, and customers ordering are needed for production control and scheduling, and coordinating and managing logistics. However, demand forecasting is a time consuming, expensive and cumbersome process.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and system for supply chain control, in order to obtain efficient flow of goods, production scheduling, and order processing.
This is accomplished by the method and system according to the invention, wherein updated and recent customer and customer""s customer product information is provided at a supplier for the generation of a delivery suggestion at a supplier in order to refill products at its customers.